View full sizeRoss William Hamilton/The OregonianEllis McCoy, City of Portland Office of Transportation Parking Operations manager, demonstrates a new parking machines near Pioneer Courthouse Square in 2002.

The U.S. Attorney's office has filed a complaint in federal court accusing Ellis K. McCoy, Portland's former parking manager, of accepting bribes, gifts and travel while steering multimillion dollar city contracts to a Florida parking meter supplier.

McCoy resigned Sept. 2, just weeks after federal agents raided his Portland office and Hillsboro apartment on Aug. 10. The same day, federal agents also executed search warrants at the office of Tampa businessman George Levey, president and chief executive of Cale Parking Systems USA Inc.

The count of accepting bribes alleges that from June 2004 through this July, McCoy accepted 11 checks and cash totaling about $124,000, as well as gifts and travel of “undetermined value” intended to influence or reward the city’s smart meter parking program. McCoy persuaded the city in March 2010 to increase Cale’s contract from about $4.4 million to more than $20 million, without competitive bids.

McCoy, 60, of Hillsboro, must appear in U.S. District Court in Portland at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 8. If convicted, accepting bribes could bring a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

McCoy is due to appear in U.S. District Court in Portland on Dec. 8 at 1:30 p.m.

Federal public defender Thomas Price said, “Well obviously everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty.’’ He declined to comment further and advised McCoy not to talk.

McCoy professed his innocence to reporters a day after the FBI raids, saying he did not take kickbacks or bribes to influence any contracts. Yet by then, McCoy had spent hours cooperating with federal authorities, admitting he had received checks from Levey and had taken trips to Las Vegas, and he pleaded with them to be able to do his time at Sheridan’s federal prison. Because of his cooperation, he wasn’t immediately arrested, and the case did not go to a grand jury.

Mayor Sam Adams, who as a city commissioner oversaw the transportation bureau, said the city cooperated with the federal probe.

"This is a city that prides itself on clean government. I am deeply concerned that a city employee has been charged with bribery,'' Adams said.

The federal charge follows years of complaints from city staff and competing contractors to McCoy’s supervisors and Adams, which led to incomplete investigations and a backlash against staff who made the complaints. The joint inquiry, by the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service, included a review of the city’s internal investigations into whistle-blower complaints.

McCoy is accused of accepting 11 checks totaling $37,134 payable to his consulting company, EKM Consulting, between June 2004 and November 2006, the federal charge says.

From August 2006 through September 2008 — when a city internal inquiry got started — McCoy is accused of accepting $87,000 in cash. From June 2004 through July 2011, McCoy is accused of accepting gifts and travel “of undetermined value,” the federal charge says.

From August 2006 through September 2008 — when a city internal inquiry got started — McCoy is accused of accepting $87,000 in cash. From June 2004 through July 2011, McCoy is accused of accepting gifts and travel “of undetermined value,” the document says.

Adams said that the FBI on Sept. 1 showed him copies of checks from Cale Parking Systems and Levey to McCoy and McCoy’s consulting company. “The city did not have the details regarding the checks until that interview,” Adams said. Once the mayor reviewed the checks, the city was ready to fire McCoy for violating city rules on insubordination, outside employment, ethical conduct and prohibited conduct. But McCoy sent a resignation letter to the city that night.

Levey’s lawyer, David Zornow of New York, declined to comment about the allegations his client bribed McCoy.

“Neither Cale Parking nor George Levey have been charged with any crime. Cale has always delivered a superior product, an outstanding service to the city of Portland at competitive prices, as has been verified recently by the city in an independent survey,” he said.

McCoy’s consulting company was not a secret, as it was filed as a business with the Oregon secretary of state’s office since 2004. Asked how the city missed that McCoy had set up a consulting company, Adams said McCoy was questioned about it but denied violating city policies.

“If we had known he’d been doing this earlier and he had lied to us, we would have terminated him,” Adams said.

Retired city transportation supervisor Chuck Morrow said Thursday that the city looked the other way on McCoy complaints but the Cale Parking meters remain.

“I’m not surprised that it turned out this way or shocked,” he said. “The city didn’t want to find anything. They’ll have this whole public show of cleaning this up, but nothing’s going to change unless they do something about the climate of ‘shut the hell up, mind your own business.’ ”